


He Doesn't Dream

by johnnyjakjohn



Category: Persona 4, Persona 5, Persona Series, Shin Megami Tensei Series
Genre: College, M/M, Mystery, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-04
Updated: 2019-08-04
Packaged: 2020-07-30 07:31:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,949
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20093590
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/johnnyjakjohn/pseuds/johnnyjakjohn
Summary: Two boys in Tokyo search for the truth.





	1. I Needed An Excuse

“Can I take the next week off? I don’t want to call it an emergency, but something’s wrong.”

  
  


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  
  


His ipod, while obsolete, was jam packed with songs of all genres and eras. Yosuke had recently gotten into the psychedelic pop that had consumed America in the 1970s. The audio of “Dedicated To The One I Love” by The Mamas & The Papas spilled out of his trademark-orange headphones. He was surprised those headphones had even worked after all these years. He was even more surprised when Yu had messaged him to visit as soon as humanly possible. What did “please come now” mean? Was it an emergency? Was it a cry for help? 

Yu and Yosuke messaged each other daily, updating each other on the ins and outs of their ever-changing lives. Their coupling had become the subject of the Investigation Team’s group chat, with Yukiko commenting that they had “become as close as two peas in far away pods could be”. No one knew the extent of their relationship, although some had theorized on their own. Naoto dug up that Yosuke was the one to develop feelings first, although Yu was the one to initiate a romantic interaction. Teddie eventually admitted to everyone that he saw Yu give Yosuke chocolates, only for Yosuke to reciprocate with a mixtape full of music on White Day. Yosuke vehemently denied that such altercations ever took place, while Yu proceeded to respond with a simple “k”. 

“Man, I’m gonna be late!” Yosuke told Yu he’d meet him by noon, and the clock at the train station said 11:55. He pulled up Maps on his phone and found that it would take him another 25 minutes to make it to the college. He rushed up the steps and onto the escalator, furiously tapping his foot while waiting behind an old lady. “Can you speed up a little, grandma?” The woman swung at Yosuke with her purse. “You watch your mouth, young man!” “Sorry, sorry!”

Tokyo was nothing like Inaba. Where Inaba had a relaxing riverbed, Tokyo had disgusting smog and crippling traffic. Yosuke found it all exciting, nontheless.

Eventually Yosuke made it to the structure Maps had said was his destination. A sign made of marble read “Aoyama Gakuin”. Yosuke looked down to read it, before remembering his tardiness. He sprinted right through the entrance, flying past a doting secretary at her desk. “Wait.” He slid to a stop, before turning to the young woman typing on a complex-looking laptop. “Do you know where the dorms are?” 

“I do, but I should first ask who  _ you _ are.”

“I’m Yosuke Hanamura, and I’m looking for a student named Yu Narukami? He told me he was staying here.” 

“Oh, are you a friend of his?”

Yosuke scratched the back of his neck in tender embarrassment. “Yeah, you could say that.”

“Well the dorms are located on the left side of the university, and the classrooms are located on the right. There aren’t any classes scheduled for today, as it is a Sunday, so you shouldn’t have much trouble finding Yu.”

“Thanks for the info.”

“No problem.” The woman went back to typing on her computer.

The university was much bigger than it had previously appeared. Yosuke went down every hallway, before giving up and sending Yu another text. “i know im late but where the fuk is ur room?”

“48 B”

“ok ok ill be there as soon as i can”

Yosuke began going up to the fourth floor. The whole space had an old fashioned feel, but there were bits of technology sprinkled about, such as the all-plexiglass elevator that was taking him to Yu right now. He’d never saw something so clean. 

The view of the hallway looked straight out of one of those old horror thriller movies. He found 48 B, and knocked on the silver-colored door. “Hey.”

Yusuke blushed. “Hi.”

Yu held out a bag containing a variety of sweet desserts. “I made these for you while I was waiting.”

“Oh...You work quick.”

“Let’s hit the school cafe.”

Aoyama Gakuin had an unsurprisingly robust cafe.”These are pretty crunchy. Their nothin like the ones at home though.”, Yosuke mumbled while munching on a double-chocolate cookie.

“The midnight channel is back.”

“SPPPRT” Yosuke spit out some of the chocolate clusters, which promptly landed on Yu’s face, clothes, and in his coffee. Ever stoic, he took a deep sip.

“What the hell man? I have so many fuckin questions. Why didn’t you ask the others to come? Who’s been appearing on the channel?”

“I needed an excuse to get you out here, and that gave me my excuse.” Yu didn’t look particularly phased by Yosuke’s bewilderment, but he did seem proud of myself. “I didn’t know it was a crime to miss you…..” He pulled out that high-pitched voice that always made Yosuke squirm.

“Knock it Off! If the Midnight Channel is back, doesn’t that mean people might get killed? That’s some serious shit!”

“It’s a little different this time. Nobody’s been hurt, physically at least.”

“Huh?”

Yu pulled out his phone, opening a folder filled with images of televisions and pictures of people who looked to be in their early 20s. “People get shown on the channel, but instead of getting killed, they get exposed.”

“Like, physically?”

“Their secrets get leaked. Texts, saved photos, stuff like that.”

“So like, nudes?”

“I guess, yeah.”

Yosuke pushed Yu’s phone away and started swiping through his own. 

“What are you doing?” 

“I’m just making sure my literal ass doesn’t get exposed.”

Yu stared back at his partner with a puzzled glance.

“What? Did you think I just sent those and then deleted them? Those were high-quality photos, bro! Women and men of all stripes would kill for that shit.”

Yu took another sip of coffee, which sounded almost equatable to a sigh of relief. “Anyways, three students have already been forced to leave.”

“What years were they?”

“Two juniors and one senior.”

“That’s gotta suck, being so many years in and having to bail.”

“I tried checking with Teddie but he couldn’t do anything. Tokyo’s out of his jurisdiction, in a way. After that I told him to keep it a secret from you.”

“I would have still come to see you, bro! Your already a big part of my life. Don’t act like your not!”

Yosuke grabbed Yu’s hands. He was shaking.

“We’re gonna get whatever this is. We’ve already seen it all, so this should be child’s play.”

“Okay.”

“I even brought my glasses, so I’m super prepared.”

“Do you wanna go in now?”

“Wait!” Yosuke stuffed his face with a cream puff. “Let’s do it.”

“Hey, waiter, give me the check. I’ll pay.”

“Does that mean I’m the lady in this situation?”

“It means your a guy with a guy and your not the guy who’s paying.”

“well I guess that makes sense.” Yosuke was still a bit of a traditionalist.

The two got up, with Yosuke following Yu’s lead. Yu showed him to a small, cozy-looking study room. TVs big and small lined the walls, with different game consoles from bygone eras plugged in.

“Did you do this all yourself?”

“Nah. They did.” Yu pointed to a boy and girl that were hidden conspicuously under a teal-colored circular table.

“Oh. Uhh, hey, I’m Yosuke.”

“Hi Yosuke.” They spoke in unison, clothed in black & red school uniforms.

Yosuke squatted down to make direct eye contact. “Why are you guys under the table?”

“We were scared.” The girl punched the boy in the shoulder which made him curl up into a sort of fetal position.

“I meant we’re trying to scare someone!”

“Who are you guys tryin’ to scare?”

“Uhh, not you.” The girl punched the guy again. His glasses fell onto the floor, making him search for them in embarrassment.

“Wha—-okay……..” “ _ I don’t know who these creeps are, but they must be somewhat acquainted with Yu. Strange. _ ” Yosuke got back up to face Yu, who was now attending to a large flat screen television parked comfortably on the floor. 

The girl spoke commandingly. “We’re hiding from someone.”

“I can understand that. I’ll let you guys be. I gotta work with my buddy, the one over there.”

He pointed to Yu, who was noticeably focused on the flat screen and it’s electrical set up.

“Oh, we know him.”

“You do?”

“He’s a weird one.”

Yosuke began to sweat a little, if only from the sheer oddity of the situation. He hadn’t been this puzzled since he and Yu first met Teddie. “I guess he is.”

“You ready to jump into the TV?”

Yosuke jolted. “Aren’t there those two wierdos,  _ right _ there?”, he whispered.

“Hey, Okawa, Mizuki, do you wanna see a magic trick?” Yu was smirking.

“Yes, Yu!” “Yeah, let’s see it.”

“Me and Yosuke are gonna disappear, all you have to do is close your eyes.”

Okawa squealed like a little girl with excitement. “I wonder if their actually gonna disappear….”

Mizuki exhaled, and then put her face in her hands and crossed her legs. “You idiot. He’s pulled this trick before.”

“I know, but like, what if the trick becomes harder each time he does it correctly?”

“Dumbass.” Her voice was muffled.

“Okay, Yosuke, on 3.”

“1…...2…….3.”

“Woah, they actually disappeared.”

  
  



	2. The Bridge

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Second chapter! It's a short one.

“I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore, dude.”

Yosuke walked around. This world was not like the worlds found in Inaba’s sea of televisions. It looked as though everything was painted in literal shades of white, black and gray. In a couple places red spilled out, making him think of human blood.

“So this is what Tokyoland looks like, huh?”

“I personally think it looks cool.” Yu always had an affinity for the shadow world’s less colorful nooks and crannies.

“It does! It looks…...smoky? I, I don’t know the word.”

Usually the worlds the investigators entered into would be unkempt, or warped, but here everything was neat and clean. It was so clean it was unsettling.

“Done yet?” Yu was always the one to keep track of time.

“Nah, I need another minute.”

Yosuke began moving across a brick-laden bridge, which was surrounded by fog. Usually wearing glasses eliminated those types of weather effects, but the pair of lens he had on did nothing of the sort. Yosuke heard a voice in the distance. It sounded akin to a small child.

“Hello? Is anybody there?” He kept walking, with Yu in tow.

“w i l l y o u h e l p? w a i t. n o, y o u r n o t l o o k i n g f o r m e. g o, g o m o v e o n. 

t h e y a l w a y s d o.”

  
With that whisper the bridge began to rumble. “We have to leave. It isn’t safe.” “I know but, like, is there a kid out there?” Yosuke thought he knew what he heard. “I doubt it.” Yu grabbed Yosuke and began to sprint. The brown-haired boy stared out into the distance, practically letting Yu drag him. “I swear I heard something.” “Even if you did, it wouldn’t be a human child. It’s only people our age that are being targeted. Must have been a shadow.” Maybe Yu was right. “ _ Did Yu hear what I heard? Maybe I’m just fuckin crazy. _ ” 


	3. Rain or Shine

When the two stepped out the television Okawa and Suzuki were gone. “How did you know they wouldn’t be here?” “They always leave. It’s a disappearance trick, not a leave and come back trick.” “That’s some impressive sarcasm.” “Sorry.” Yu wasn’t one to mince words. There was a point and he got to it, most of the time. “Let’s go back to your place. I wanna sleep what I saw off.” 

Yu opened the study room door and led Yosuke up a long flight of stairs. “ Don’t be too loud.” Yosuke raised his hand to the side in disagreement. “Why would I be loud?” “You know you can get a little heated at some points.” “What you’ mean,  _ heated _ ?!” They had scaled 4 floors by this point. It had not become apparent to Yosuke that Yu’s decision to avoid an elevator was intentional. “You panic, or get scared. You make yourself the center of attention.” “I never do that shit! You on something, dude!” Yosuke was hyperventilating, and speaking faster, which made the pitch of his voice an octave higher. The habit was one he couldn’t shake, and one he didn’t particularly enjoy acknowledging. It made him look feminine, in a shrill sort of way. “I didn’t mean it in a bad way. Your certainly the center of my attention.” Yosuke couldn’t help but blush. “Smooth.” 

The two made it to the hallway which Yosuke had found creepy earlier that day. “You don’t find this place a little off-putting to live in?” “I find it quite cozy, in fact. It’s like a fireplace, or a warm fuzzy sweater.” “You know dude, 95% of the time I can’t figure out if your joking with me or not.” Yu slipped his school ID through his room’s keycard lock. “That’s okay. You know what I mean when it matters.” 

Yosuke slipped passed to get a full view of Yu’s living quarters. There was a single bed, with a desk slid next to a wall. It was mostly barren, save for a poster from Inaba that hung on a wall which also housed a small window. Yu had bought the item from Junes during one of Yosuke’s shifts at the department store. It was a full spread of Rise, singing onstage. The backside had all of her dates for her upcoming tour. Yu had felt bad when Rise told him how she felt about him. He didn’t reciprocate, but he didn’t want to lose her as a friend, so he bought the poster (and all the others in the establishment) as a gesture of goodwill. She cared less about the posters and more about the lengths he went to explain how much he respected her. Yosuke remembered because that was also the day Yu gave him chocolates. 

“You still talk to Rise?”

“Occasionally. She’s in town this week for the tour, I believe.”

Yosuke sat on the bed. It was a little on the hard side, but he was so tired by all the odd events that had transpired within the last 24 hours that he didn’t really care. He needed a breathe, only for a moment. So much had happened in the last year, and things were never going to be the same. Being here with the one who made it all worthwhile made that fact even clearer to Yosuke. “Is there a shower in that bathroom?” Yosuke pointed to the consciously labelled “washroom”. “Yeah, there’s also a faucet, and a toilet, and some running water. You can’t miss it.” Yosuke let out a chuckle. “C’mon.” Yosuke slipped his shirt off and went into the bathroom, chucking the rest of his clothes in the bed’s direction. “You know you wanna.” Yu followed suit.

When the two had finished they slipped into sleeping clothes. Yosuke had sent over the luggage with his things a couple days before taking the train to Tokyo. He dug into the belongings, pulling out an old CD player with a pair of thin-old fashioned headphones. “You up for some tunes?”

The two laid in bed next to each other, barely being able to fit the small, college-standard mattress. Two earbuds connected them in an odd artificial way. Yosuke thought about the position they were in, right now. “ _ There’s, like, no space between us. We could never do shit like this in Inaba. Oh shit, it looks like he’s going to say something to me!”  _ “You know I love you, right? I need you to understand.” Yu brushed Yosuke’s hair to the side, only so he could see the boy’s warm almond eyes. ''I feel the same way. Most of the time I can’t put it into words. Not with you, or my parents, even our buddies back home. I try to put it all together, but I just melt.” “ _ You really said that out loud. To him!! And what he said to you….. _ ” Yosuke wore his heart on his sleeve more for Yu than anyone else. He felt everything from contement to anger for him at one point or another. The fact that Yu didn’t care is what won him over.

Yu was obviously the less expressive of the two. He barely talked, which Yosuke chalked up to his powerful nature. If he could say less with more, why wouldn’t he? “There’s things I’ve never told you.” Yu tilted his head closer to Yosuke’s. “I don’t expect to know everything. No one’s an open book, not even if they try. The way I’m with you- I’m not with anyone else.”, the brown haired boy replied. He kissed Yu on the forehead because it felt more tender.

“I don’t know what to say.” 

“There’s no pressure.”

They stayed silent for a minute or two before Yosuke cut back in. “I don’t ever wanna go back to how I was. I was so cruel, and it wasn’t fair. I just…..that wasn’t me.”

“I’ll protect you.” 

In the darkest places of Yosuke’s mind, Yu was a knight in shining armor. He, however, never saw himself as royalty, or a princess, or someone deserving of that type of chivalry. “Promise?”

“I promise with my whole heart. I know you’ll do the same for me.” 

“You know I would dude. Rain or shine, you and me, through and through.”

  
  



End file.
